LOS ANGELES (KTLA) – An 80-year-old world-famous art dealer from Los Angeles was sentenced to two years in federal prison and ordered to pay nearly $13 million in restitution, authorities announced earlier this month.
Douglas J. Christmas, president and CEO of Art and Architecture Books of the 21st Century, which operated offices in Miracle Mile and Beverly Hills as Ace Gallery, filed for bankruptcy in May 2024. was convicted by a jury of three counts of embezzlement of real estate. , according to a Department of Justice news release.
The 80-year-old opened his first gallery in Los Angeles at age 17 and has lived there since 1969, but has been in legal trouble since then, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Nearly 40 years ago, he filed a complaint alleging he stole about $1.3 million worth of modern art, including works by Andy Warhol. The New York Times reported that Warhol complained that he had not been paid by art dealers.
Douglas Christmas was spotted in Los Angeles in April 2017. (LA Times via Getty)
Ace Galley filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Los Angeles federal court in February 2013, prosecutors said, but the company continued to operate with Mr. Christmas in charge.
More than three years later, in March and April 2016, the art dealer misappropriated $264,595 belonging to Ace Gallery’s bankruptcy estate, including money that Christmas had signed out of the foundation and that he owned and controlled. Also included was a check for $50,000 made payable to Ace Museum, another non-profit corporation that had been involved in the investigation.
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Prosecutors added that he embezzled an additional $100,000 that was owed to the bankrupt gallery from a third party who had purchased the art, and deposited the funds back into an Ace Museum account he controlled. The additional $114,595 that customers owed Ace Gallery was used by Christmas to maintain Ace Museum’s $225,000 monthly rent.
During the trial, one of his attorneys, Jennifer Williams, told the jury that her client did not object to the transaction and that as a gallery owner he believed he could “finance himself to other companies within his gallery world.” ” ‘The Times reported.
At the end of the four-day trial, the jury deliberated for less than an hour before returning a guilty verdict.
“Instead of fulfilling his duties as a fiduciary and properly managing the gallery’s bankruptcy estate, this defendant used funds belonging to the gallery’s creditors to pay for the museum’s unfulfilled dreams. “We have chosen to make the gallery healthy.” United States Attorney Martin Estrada. “Today’s sentence provides just punishment for these crimes brazenly committed by thieves who exploited a system designed to protect people in economic need.”
U.S. District Judge Mark C. Scalsi sentenced Christmas to 24 months in federal prison and ordered Christmas to pay $12,809,192 in restitution.
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